An understanding of the character of Pontesbury Parish gains by comparison with other areas. It lacks the dramatic mountains, craggy peaks, high hills or large stretches of water found in the Lake District. Unlike the Fens it does not have extensive areas of flat land, which, unbroken by hedges, permits wide views. Absent are the long, straight wide roads of Mid Northumberland. Fields are small and irregular in comparison with the large fields of East Anglia or the planned, regular pattern of fields established by Enclosure Acts to be seen in parts of East Leicestershire.

Although the shallow valley of the Rea Brook permits views of several miles the narrow winding, sometimes sunken, lanes beneath high hedges, an abundance of hedgerow trees and woods means that it is an intimate, often hidden landscape where from many viewpoints and there is barely an isolated building or settlement to be seen. Gently rolling lowlands characterise much of the parish. By contrast more dramatic scenery is to be seen to the immediate east and south of Pontesbury village with steep sided volcanic hills, a wooded gorge and more extensive woodlands. A typical landscape view takes in green pastures, woods, hedges liberally dotted with trees through which views are filtered and a background of hills.

Most of the parish is officially classified as principal settled farmland with land used predominantly for pastoral farming. There is a centuries old pattern of relatively small irregular hedged fields where the rate of hedge loss and field enlargement has been considerably less than many parts of England. There is a clustered settlement pattern of a least eight small villages and hamlets such as Cruckton, Habberley, Plealey, Lea Cross, Cruckmeole, Asterley, Hinton and Arscott. These are linked by narrow lanes with a significant number of dispersed farmsteads and wayside cottages. Each village/hamlet is clearly separate from other settlements, nestling unobtrusively in the landscape but all having a soft boundary between settlement and countryside.

Flat waterside meadows along the Rea Brook which meanders from west to east through the centre of the parish are subject to flooding and so tend to be lacking in buildings but provide important seasonal cattle grazing with linear tree cover giving some shelter.

In the extreme south of the parish beyond Habberley, the farmlands provide a more intricate landscape, characterised by a network of winding lanes, scattered farmsteads, smaller irregular fields, more ancient woodlands and some steep slopes.

The parish is large but the population is small and the elements which make up the landscape are likewise small – hills, woods, fields, roads, buildings, rivers and other areas of water, settlements. Small scale, mainly unplanned, understated, unobtrusive, unspoilt and tranquil – here lies its character, attractiveness and beauty which the Neighbourhood Plan seeks to protect and enhance.